Vijay Mallya

Vijay Vittal Mallya (born 18 December 1955) is an Indian businessman and a former politician. He is the subject of an extradition effort by the Indian Government to bring him back from the UK to face charges of financial crimes in India. His last formal appeal against extradition was rejected in 2020, but as of April 2025 the order had not been enforced; the judge in a case rejecting his appeal against bankruptcy said "apparently Dr Mallya is still resisting extradition on other bases which have yet to be resolved".

The son of a businessman who was also in the alcoholic beverages business, Mallya is the former chairman of United Spirits, the largest spirits company in India, and continues to serve as chairman of United Breweries Group, an Indian conglomerate with interests including beverage alcohol, aviation infrastructure, real estate, and fertilizer. He was the chairman of Sanofi India (previously known as Hoechst AG and Aventis) and of Bayer CropScience in India for over 20 years, as well as of several other companies. Mallya was also the founder and former owner of the defunct Kingfisher Airlines and former co-owner of the Force India Formula One team before it went into administration. He is also a former owner of the Royal Challengers Bangalore cricket team.

Early and personal life

Vijay Mallya is the son of Vittal Mallya from Bantwal, Mangalore, Karnataka. Born into the Konkani speaking family of Vittal Mallya and Lalitha Ramaiah. Vittal Mallya was the Chairman of United Breweries Group. Vijay Mallya was educated at La Martinière Calcutta, where he was appointed House Captain of Hastings house in his final year, and at St. Xavier's College, Kolkata, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce degree (with honours) in 1976. While in college, Mallya interned in his family's businesses. After graduating, he interned at the American part of Hoechst AG in the United States.

In 1986, he met and married Samira Tyabjee, an air hostess of Air India. They have one son, Siddharth Mallya, who was born on 7 May 1987. They were divorced shortly afterwards, although Mallya has stated in interviews that he has a "great relationship" with his first wife. In June 1993, Mallya married his current wife Rekha, whom he had known since childhood, and together they have two daughters, Leanna and Tanya. Rekha was previously married twice, and also has a daughter and son, Leila and Kabir, from a previous marriage. Mallya adopted Rekha's daughter Leila. He is reported to be preparing to marry for the third time, to former Kingfisher Airlines air-hostess Pinky Lalwani.

Generally characterized as having an extravagant lifestyle, Mallya was reported in 2005 to be someone who prays every day and conducts the entire 42-day Sabarimala fast every year while wearing only black clothing, and to be a devout follower of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and the Art of Living Foundation.

Vijay Mallya is an ardent devotee of Lord Venkateshwara of Tirupati, and Kukke Subrahmanya. On his 57th birthday in 2012, he offered 3 kg of gold bricks to Venkateswara Temple, Tirumala. In 2012, he also donated ₹8 million (US$95,000) gold-plated doors for Kukke Subrahmanya. These were done at a time when the Kingfisher Airlines owned by him had to be shut down due to huge financial losses.

Business career

He is the ex-chairman of United Spirits, the largest spirits company in India, and continues to serve as chairman of United Breweries Group, an Indian conglomerate with interests including beverage alcohol, aviation infrastructure, real estate and fertilizer. He has been the chairman of Sanofi India (previously known as Hoechst AG and Aventis) and the chairman of Bayer CropScience in India for over 20 years, and the chairman of several other companies.

The son of businessman Vittal Mallya, he became the chairman of United Breweries Group in 1983 at the age of 28, following his father's death. Since then, the group has grown into a multi-national conglomerate of over 60 companies, with an annual turnover which increased by 64% over 15 years to US$11 billion in 1998–1999. Over the years, he has diversified and acquired Berger Paints, Best and Crompton in 1988; Mangalore Chemicals and Fertilisers in 1990; The Asian Age newspaper and the publisher of film magazines, and Cine Blitz, a Bollywood magazine in 2001.

United's Kingfisher beer has a more than 50% market share in India. It is available in 52 other countries, and leads among Indian beers in the international market.

United Spirits Ltd, the flagship company of the UB Group, achieved the milestone of selling 100 million cases, becoming the second-largest spirits company in the world by volume, under Mallya's chairmanship. In 2012, Mallya ceded management control of United Spirits Limited to global spirits giant Diageo, retaining a minority stake in the business. In February 2015 Mallya was forced to resign as chairman of United Spirits, and he contracted to receive a $75 million severance payment as part of that deal, but the courts in India have blocked that payment.

Kingfisher Airlines, established in 2005, was a major business venture launched by Mallya. It eventually became insolvent and had to be closed down. As of October 2013, it had not paid salaries to its employees for 15 months, had lost its licence to operate as an airline, and owed more than US$1 billion in bank loans. By November 2015, the amount owed to the banks had grown to at least $1.35 billion, and there were other debts owed for taxes and to numerous small creditors. As part of the Kingfisher collapse, Mallya is accused of being a "willful defaulter" under Indian law, including accusations of money laundering, misappropriation, etc.

In March 2016, a consortium of banks approached the Supreme Court of India to stop Mallya from going abroad due to the pending money his companies owed them. As per media reports, he had already left India. On 13 March 2016 a court in Hyderabad issued a non-bailable warrant for Mallya's arrest, but it appears he is remaining at his country estate near London, England, while his lawyer contests the warrant with a higher court. On 18 April 2016, a special court in Mumbai also issued an undated non-bailable arrest warrant against the businessman. This was issued in response to a plea by the Enforcement Directorate on 15 April before the special court hearing cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. There were allegations on him that he transferred ₹4,000 crore (US$470 million) to tax havens.

In June 2016, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) reported it had "provisionally attached" ₹14.11 billion (US$170 million) rupees worth of Mallya's Indian assets and properties against unpaid loans totalling ₹8.07 billion (US$95 million). On 3 September, it issued a second attachment order for a further ₹66.30 billion (US$780 million) worth of Mallya's assets, including a farmhouse, shares in United Breweries and multiple flats in Bengaluru valued at ₹5.65 billion (US$67 million). By December 2016, the ED has attached a total of ₹96.61 billion (US$1.1 billion) worth of assets of Mallya and Kingfisher in India. This is one of the largest attachment of assets made by the ED in a Prevention of Money Laundering Act case till now. The ED also decided to send letters rogatory (LR) to the US, the UK and Europe requesting them to assist it in attachment of Mallya's over ten foreign assets.

In July 2020, Indian media reported that Mallya had offered a settlement package of ₹139.60 billion (equivalent to ₹160 billion or US$1.9 billion in 2023) as against a total principal amount of ₹90 billion (equivalent to ₹110 billion or US$1.3 billion in 2023) to the consortium of Indian bankers pursuing litigation against him; this settlement was not accepted by the bankers.

Political career

Previously a member of the Akhila Bharata Janata Dal, Mallya joined the Subramanian Swamy-led Janata Party in 2003 and was its National Working President until 2010. He was elected to the Rajya Sabha as independent member twice from his home state of Karnataka, first in 2002 with the support of the Janata Dal (Secular) and Indian National Congress and then in 2010 with the support of the Janata Dal (Secular) and BJP.

On 2 May 2016, Mallya resigned from his post as a Rajya Sabha MP, a week after the Rajya Sabha ethics panel declared that he should no longer be a member of the House and one day before the panel was set to meet again to recommend his expulsion. He had left India during this time, and his passport had been revoked. In his resignation letter, Mallya said he was "shocked that the Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance, Government of India has provided factually wrong information to a Parliament Committee" and that he was resigning because he had concluded that he would "not get a fair trial or justice".